Protein and lipid sources for use in aquafeeds and animal feeds and a process for their preparation

ABSTRACT

A process for preparation of nutritionally upgraded oilseed meals which are protein and lipid-rich and have a reduced fiber content, and plant oils from oilseeds for use in fish or other non-human animal diets or human foods comprising the steps of: providing a source of oilseed; subjecting the oilseed to heat treatment to substantially reduce the concentration of at least some antinutritional components normally present in the oilseed to obtain heat-treated seed; dehulling the heat-treated seed to produce a meat fraction, a hull fraction or a mixture thereof; and cold pressing the meat fraction or the mixture to yeild the plant oils and the protein and lipid-rich meals.

[0001] This application is a Continuation-In-Part application and claimspriority on Canadian patent application serial number 2,351,903 filed onJun. 26, 2001 and International Patent Application Number PCT/CA01/00663filed on May 8, 2001 which claims priority on Canadian patentapplication serial number 2,334,745 filed on Feb. 13, 2001 and on U.S.Ser. No. 09/566,728, which was allowed on Nov. 2, 2001.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to a novel process for theproduction of nutritionally upgraded protein and lipid sources for usein aquafeeds and other animal feeds. More specifically, the presentinvention relates to a process involving the co-processing of animaloffal(s) with oilseed(s); the invention also relates to productsproduced thereby. Other embodiments of the present invention relate tonovel oilseed protein concentrates and novel protein and lipid-richoilseed meals, as well as novel oilseed oils produced using the processof the present invention.

[0003] In addition, the invention relates to cold pressed plant oilssuitable for organic human foods, as well as products for use ascomponents in organic fertilizers, both produced by the process of theinvention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004] Feed accounts for on average 35-60% of the operating costs ofsalmon farms and it represents the largest cost in the culture of othercarnivorous aquatic species. Moreover, the protein sources presentlyused account for the majority of the feed cost. Accordingly, salmonfarming profitability is marginal in many regions. Hence, there is aneed to reduce production costs and improve the market value of thefarmed product.

[0005] Currently, aquatic feeds contain high levels of fish meal andoil, which are mostly imported, to produce a protein-rich and sometimeslipid-rich (e.g. salmon diets) aquatic feed. However, as notedhereinabove, such fish meal and oil can be very expensive and this willbe especially true in the future due to progressively increasing demandsthat are being placed on the finite global supplies of fish meal andoil. Hence, alternative economical sources of protein and lipid arerequired.

[0006] One known approach is to use less expensive plant protein sourcesin aquafeed that have been specially processed so that they are in theform of nutritionally upgraded protein meals, concentrates, andisolates. These may be used either singly or in combination withrendered animal protein ingredients such as poultry-by-product meal. Todate, each of these protein products, such as canola meal, soybean meal,and poultry-by-product meal have been processed (produced) separatelyand then these protein sources have been blended together in dried andfinely ground form in appropriate ratios for a particular aquaticspecies at the time of diet formulation and preparation.

[0007] Most research on oilseeds has focussed on the use of productsderived from processing soybeans, rapeseed/canola, sunflower seed orcottonseed. Comparatively few of these studies, however, have beendirected to assessing the feasibility of using canola, flax seed,mustard seed, hemp and the like. Indeed, in the case of canola forexample, although proteins contained therein are rich in lysine andmethionine, both of which are limiting amino acids in most cereal andoilseed proteins, its use as a protein source in food products has beenseverely limited, due to the fact that the proteinaceous material whichis left over after oil is extracted by known processes containsantinutritional constituents. The latter include insoluble and solublefibres, glucosinolates (antithyroid compounds), phenolic compounds andphytic acid.

[0008] It has been shown that the concentrations of the above mentionedunwanted constituents should be minimized in order to allow fullexpression of the high quality of oilseed protein and to improve theoverall digestibility, palatability, as well as bioavailability ofminerals in the oilseed protein product. This is highly desirable whenfeeding either terrestrial species or aquatic species.

[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,086 to Marino et al. discloses thepreparation of an animal feed which comprises (a) a proteinaceousmatrix, (b) fat or oil, (c) a sulfur source, (d) farinaceous material,(e) a plasticizer and (f) water. The method disclosed involves theblending of the ingredients together, introducing the mixture into anextruder and subjecting it to shear forces, mechanical work, heat andpressure such that the product temperature prior to discharge is atleast 280 degrees F. This patent is concerned with the production of ananimal feed with a “meat like texture”.

[0010] U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,115 to Damico et al. relates to a feed wherean amino acid is utilized as an additive to fortify a proteinaceousfeed.

[0011] U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,490 to Holmes discloses the production ofanimal feed products utilizing rape seed in combination with anotherplant species.

[0012] U.S. Pat. No. 5,773,051 to Kim relates to a process formanufacturing a fish feed which refloats after initially sinking. Thisdocument discloses a process including blending conventional fish feedcontaining fish meal, wheat meal, soybean meal and other substances andcompressing the mixture at a constant temperature to produce a moldedproduct.

[0013] Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,210 to Koch and U.S. Pat. No.4,889,921 to Diosady et al. disclose preparations of proteinconcentrates for use in animal or human nourishment, from oilseedsincluding rapeseed (canola). The various processes of these inventionsgenerally comprise heating, drying and distillation steps, as well astreatments with alkaline solutions and extractions with organicsolvents.

[0014] The protein extract claimed by Cameron et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos.4,418,013 and 4,366,097; and by Murray et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos.5,844,086 and 6,005,076 is said to be “protein isolate”, which isregarded as being different from a protein concentrate. Indeed, it isestablished that a protein extract is an isolate when the proteincontent exceeds 90% and the protein is undenatured. Accordingly, theprocess of the preparation of an isolate does not allow for a heatingstep at elevated temperature. Lawhon et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,166disclose a process allowing for the simultaneous preparation of proteinas precipitate or curd, and oil for use as food products or foodingredients, from numerous oilseeds including soybeans, glandless,cottonseeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts and sesame seeds. At an early stepof the process, a heating treatment (at about 60° C. to 90° C.) of thematerial in water is performed, in order to inactivate enzymes inherentin the seed.

[0015] A process for the preparation of rapeseed and canola proteinconcentrates known as the “FRI-71 process” has been described by Jones(J. Amer. Oil Chem. Soc. 56, 1979, 716-721). This process allows for theproduction of highly digestible protein concentrates with reduced levelsof antinutritional factors (except for phytic acid) that can be used toentirely replace the fish meal portion of diets for trout. However,subsequent work conducted in collaboration with the POS Pilot PlantCorporation in Saskatoon revealed that the FRI-71 process was not costeffective, due to low yields of the concentrates, and insufficientnumbers of other value-added products apart from canola oil stemmingfrom the process. Also, the process as described could not easily beapplied in the private sector using existing oilseed and fish mealprocessing technology.

[0016] In the present invention, a modified FRI-71 process is describedthat results, besides the high value canola protein concentrate andanimal feed grade canola oil, in other value-added products such ascanola oil suitable for the organic food market, nutritionally upgradedcanola meal, and products suitable as components in organic orpredominately organic fertilizers. The process of the invention issimple and economical. Moreover, the process is readily integrated intoexisting oilseed crushing plants or fish meal production plants.

[0017] The process described in an embodiment of the present inventionis further extended to various oilseeds including canola, rapeseed,sunflower seed, flax seed, mustard seed, cottonseed, hemp and soybeans.Moreover, mixtures of different oilseeds are also used in the process.

[0018] An object of the invention for certain embodiments is to providean improved process for extracting protein and oil (human and animalfeed grade) from oilseed. A further object of other embodiments is toprovide protein products that are particularly well suited for use inhigh energy (lipid) diets for fish farming and in some animal feeds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0019] In the present invention, there are several different aspectsrepresented by different process aspects, as well as several novelproduct compositions resulting from different process aspects.

[0020] Dealing initially with the process aspects, there is provided afirst aspect involving the preparation of nutritionally upgraded oilseedmeals, which are protein and lipid-rich and have a reduced fibrecontent, and plant oils from oilseeds for use in fish or other non-humananimal diets or human foods. This process comprises the steps of:

[0021] providing a source of oilseed;

[0022] subjecting said oilseed to heat treatment to substantially reducethe concentration of at least some antinutritional components normallypresent in said oilseed to obtain heat-treated seed;

[0023] dehulling said heat-treated seed to produce a meat fraction and ahull fraction or a mixture thereof; and

[0024] cold pressing said meat fraction or said mixture to yield saidplant oils and said protein and lipid-rich meals.

[0025] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a process for preparation of nutritionally upgraded oilseedmeals, which are protein and lipid-rich and have a reduced fibrecontent, and plant oils from oilseeds for use in fish or other non-humananimal diets or human foods comprising the steps of:

[0026] providing a source of oilseed;

[0027] subjecting said oilseed to heat treatment to substantially reducethe concentration of at least some antinutritional components normallypresent in said oilseed to obtain heat-treated seed;

[0028] providing a source of unhydrolyzed animal offal;

[0029] blending said heat-treated seed in particulate form with saidanimal offal, and if required water together with an antioxidant,to forma mixture thereof;

[0030] cooking said mixture under conditions selected to substantiallyimprove protein digestibility, and substantially free cellular waterpresent in said animal offal, and if required as well as to facilitateseparation of protein from the lipid in said oilseeds to obtain a cookedmixture; and

[0031] separating said cooked mixture into a stickwater fraction, amoisture containing protein-rich fraction, and an animal feed grade oilfraction.

[0032] In a third aspect of this invention, the above-described secondaspect can be modified as described herein to provide the third processaspect. In particular, in the above second aspect, the modificationsinvolve the preparation of protein concentrates and lipid sources fromco-processing of animal offal with oilseed for use in fish or othernon-human animal feeds, wherein the cold pressing step of said meatfraction or said mixture obtained from the first aspect above is carriedout so as to substantially reduce the particle size of said meat or saidmixture and to yield a high value human grade oil and a protein andlipid-rich meal with reduced fibre content. Thus, the third aspect ofthe process comprises the further steps of:

[0033] providing a source of unhydrolyzed animal offal;

[0034] blending said protein and lipid-rich meal with said animal offal,and if required together with an antioxident to form a mixture thereof;

[0035] cooking said mixture under conditions selected to substantiallyimprove protein digestibility, and substantially free cellular waterpresent in said animal offal, as well as to facilitate separation ofprotein from the lipid in said animal offal and said oilseeds to obtaina cooked mixture; and

[0036] separating said cooked mixture into a stickwater fraction, amoisture containing protein-rich fraction, and an animal feed grade oilfraction.

[0037] A fourth aspect of the process of the present invention involvesthe preparation of protein concentrates and lipid sources from theco-processing of animal offal with raw oilseeds for use in fish or othernon-human animal diets. The fourth process aspect comprises the stepsof:

[0038] providing a source of oilseed;

[0039] cold pressing said oilseed under conditions to substantiallyreduce the particle size of said oilseed and obtain pressed raw seeds;

[0040] providing a source of unhydrolyzed animal offal;

[0041] blending said pressed raw seeds with said animal offal, and ifrequired water together with an antioxident to produce a mixturethereof;

[0042] cooking said mixture under conditions to substantially improveprotein digestibility, and substantially free cellular water present insaid animal offal and facilitate separation of protein from the lipid insaid animal offal and said oilseed to obtain a cooked mixture; and

[0043] separating said cooked mixture into a stickwater fraction, amoisture containing protein-rich fraction, and an animal feed grade oilfraction.

[0044] Desirably, in the above aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a process for preparation of protein concentrates and lipidsources from the co-processing of animal offal with dried and thendehulled oilseeds for use in fish or other non-human animal diets. Inthis fifth aspect, the process further comprises the steps of:

[0045] providing a source of oilseed;

[0046] drying said oilseed to produce a dried seed;

[0047] dehulling said dried seed to produce a meat fraction and a hullfraction or a mixture thereof;

[0048] cold pressing said meat fraction or mixture under conditionsselected to substantially reduce particle size of said meat or mixtureto yield a high value human grade oil and protein and lipid-rich mealswith reduced fibre content;

[0049] providing a source of unhydrolyzed animal offal;

[0050] blending said protein and lipid-rich meal with said animal offalto form a mixture thereof;

[0051] cooking said mixture under conditions selected to substantiallyimprove protein digestibility, substantially free cellular water presentin said animal offal and facilitate separation of protein from the lipidin said animal offal and said oilseeds to obtain a cooked mixture; and

[0052] separating said cooked mixture into a stickwater fraction, amoisture containing protein-rich fraction, and an animal feed grade oilfraction.

[0053] In a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided aprocess for producing a protein concentrate for use in animal andaquafeeds. As such, the fifth aspect process steps comprise:

[0054] providing a source of oilseed;

[0055] drying said oilseed to reduce its moisture content to below about10% to obtain dried seed or subjecting said oiseed to heat treatmentunder conditions selected to substantially deactivate, destroy or reducethe concentration of at least some of the antinutritional componentsnormally present in the oilseed to produce a heat-treated seed;

[0056] cold pressing or grinding said dried seed or heat-treated seed toreduce the particle size and yield human grade oil;

[0057] providing a source of unhydrolyzed animal offal;

[0058] blending said oilseed and said animal offal in ratios from about10:90 to about 90:10 form a mixture thereof;

[0059] cooking said mixture to obtain a cooked mixture prior to saidextracting step;

[0060] separating said cooked mixture into a stickwater fraction, amoisture containing protein-rich fraction, and an animal feed grade oilfraction;

[0061] extracting said mixture with a solvent; and

[0062] removing said solvent to obtain a protein concentrate.

[0063] In the first aspect of the process, as an optional feature, theprocess may further include the step of extracting said protein andlipid-rich meals with a solvent, and the step of stabilizing said plantoils by adding an antioxidant.

[0064] Further, there may also be included the step of drying theprotein-rich fraction to reduce its moisture content to below about 10%.Moreover, the moisture content can be between 6% to 9%.

[0065] In a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided aprocess for preparation of oilseed protein concentrates from oilseed foruse in fish or other non-human animal diets comprising the steps of:

[0066] subjecting the oilseed to heat treatment under conditionsselected to substantially deactivate, destroy or reduce theconcentration of at least some of the antinutritional componentsnormally present in oilseed to produce heat-treated seed;

[0067] dehulling the heat-treated seed to produce a meat fraction and ahull fraction;

[0068] cold pressing the meat fraction to yield a high value human gradeoil and a moisture containing protein and lipid-rich meal having areduced fibre content;

[0069] blending the protein and lipid-rich meal with water and anantioxidant to produce a blended mixture;

[0070] cooking the blended mixture under conditions selected tosubstantially improve protein digestibility to obtain a cooked mixture;and

[0071] separating the cooked mixture into a stick water fraction, amoisture containing protein-rich fraction, and an oil fraction.

[0072] Further, in the above aspect of the process, the process mayoptionally include the steps of subjecting the protein and lipid-richmeal to enzymatic pH adjusted water treatment under conditions selectedto substantially decrease the phytic acid concentration normally presentin oilseed to thereby produce a protein and lipid-rich meal havingreduced phytic acid and fibre contents.

[0073] Moreover, in the above embodiment, a further step of effecting adelay prior to subjecting the blended mixture to the cooking step.

[0074] A seventh aspect of the present invention provides a process forpreparation of oilseed protein concentrates from oilseed for use in fishor other non-human animal diets comprising the steps of:

[0075] drying the oilseed to produce dried seed;

[0076] dehulling the dried seed to produce a meat fraction and a hullfraction;

[0077] cold pressing the meat fraction to yield a high value human gradeoil and a moisture containing protein and lipid-rich meal having areduced fibre content;

[0078] blending the protein and lipid-rich meal with water and anantioxidant to produce a blended mixture;

[0079] cooking the blended mixture under conditions selected tosubstantially improve protein digestibility to obtain a cooked mixture;and

[0080] separating the cooked mixture into a stick water fraction, amoisture containing protein-rich fraction, and an oil fraction.

[0081] Optionally, a step involving the initial sterilizing of theoilseed may be performed and the sterilization step can be performedusing infrared energy.

[0082] There may be also included the step of cooking said mixture toobtain a cooked mixture prior to said extracting step. In thisembodiment, there may be further included the step of separating saidcooked mixture into a stickwater fraction, a moisture containingprotein-rich fraction, and an animal feed grade oil. If desired, therealso may be provided the step of drying the protein concentrate.

[0083] In another preferred embodiment, in the second process aspects,desirably the heat treatment is a rapid heat treatment. The heattreatment may be carried out in one or more stages—for example, a twostage heat treatment can be employed where temperatures range from about100° C. to 115° C., and for treatment times ranging from 1.5 minutes to30 minutes or more depending on the specific components being treated.

[0084] Particularly suitable for the second process aspect, is where theoilseed is selected from the group consisting of canola, rape seed,soybeans, sunflower seed, flax seed, mustard seed, cotton seed, hemp andmixtures thereof. In the first process aspects, the oilseed may beselected from the group consisting of canola, sunflower seed, flax seed,mustard seed, and mixtures thereof. In the event the oilseed is acommercially available processed ground oilseed meal, the initial stepsinvolving rapid heat-treatment and cold pressing are deleted.

[0085] In the second aspect of the invention, the animal offal may beselected from the group consisting of fish processing waste, whole fish,fish by-catch, squid offal, whole birds without feathers, beef offal,lamb offal and mixtures thereof. Particularly suitable in the sixthaspect is where the animal offal is a fish product or poultry ortail-end dehulled meal (fibre-reduced). For instance, squid offal,poultry offal without feet, and whole birds including chickens, turkeysand others without feathers can be used. The fish offal or whole fishutilized include fish species having low levels of chlorinatedhydrocarbons and heavy metals such as mercury. The animal offal can be aminced unhydrolyzed animal offal. The process may also include the stepof dehulling the heat-treated seed and the blending step may includeadding hot water to the mixture.

[0086] The dehulling step may be carried out by a mechanical treatmentwith a gravity screening or air-classification step and may also furtherinclude a seed sizing step. Optionally the oilseed can be treated bysuitable techniques to remove the outer mucilage layer of the seed coatbefore the seed is used; the oilseed used includes flax seed. Especiallywhen producing aquatic feeds, oilseed can be selected from canola,soybeans, sunflower seed, hemp or delinted cotton seed or mixturesthereof is used, due to their global availability, cost, and/or highquality of protein and/or lipid.

[0087] The cooking step may be performed at a temperature of from about90° C. to about 93° C. and may further include the step of adding anantioxidant and/or a palatability enhancer to the cooked mixture. Theantioxidant can be selected from the group consisting of ethoxyquin(santoquin), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene(BHT), tertiary butyl hydroquinone, natural antioxidants and mixturesthereof. One or more of the foregoing antioxidants are also added to thedried protein concentrate, and the animal feed grade lipid fraction. Inthe case of the former, the amount of antioxidant utilized is from about200 ppm to about 250 ppm whereas the latter is supplemented with about250 ppm to about 500 ppm antioxidant(s). Combinations of BHA andethoxyquin or ethyoxquin alone at highest level is used. Thepalatability enhancer may be selected from the group consisting ofnatural and synthetic products based on krill, euphausiids andderivatives thereof, squid, Finnstim™ and mixtures thereof. Otheringredients such as enzymes, fillers, as well as other sources of lipidof plant or animal origin and other protein sources such as heat-treatedfield peas or lupins may be added to the composition of the mixture.

[0088] The oilseed and the animal offal in the second process aspect ismixed together in a ratio of about 10:90 to about 90:10 by weight. Itcan be seen that the mixed ratio can be from about 25:75 to about 75:25by weight or from about 60:40 to about 40:60 by weight.

[0089] The amount of oilseed present in the mixture depends upon thesources of oilseed and animal offal actually used. This amount alsodepends on respective attendant concentrations of protein and lipid, aswell as costs. For instance, the oilseed can be present in a range ofabout 5% to about 78% by weight. More particularly, the oilseed can bepresent in the amount of about 22% to about 78% by weight, or the rangeof about 40% to about 60% by weight. It is important to maintain anoptimal ratio of water (from endogenous and exogenous sources) to theoil-free dry matter content of the oilseed in the initial mixture andusually this is found within the range of about 3-6:1 w/w. Ratios withinthis range facilitate the removal of water soluble antinutritionalfactors from the oilseed (in press liquor).

[0090] The mixture is further pressed and/or centrifuged usingrespectively either a screw press equipped with perforated screens, anexpeller equipped with flat steel bars set edgewise around the peripheryand spaced to allow the fluids to flow between the bars, a decantercentrifuge or any combination of these. Depending upon the efficiency ofliquid/solid separation the mixture is centrifuged before or after thepresscake has passed through the screw press or expeller. This part ofthe process removes fluids generally comprised of water that containssome soluble protein and water soluble antinutritional factors stemmingfrom the oilseed such as glucosinolates, phenolic compounds and unwantedsugars including oligosaccharides (raffinose and stachyose). Animal feedgrade plant oil that is enriched with fatty acids from the animal offallipid is also removed.

[0091] The drying step in the second to sixth process aspects may beperformed at a temperature of between about 70° C. to about 85° C. Asmentioned above, the separation step may be carried out in a screwpress, expeller press or decanter centrifuge, or any combinationthereof. As an optional feature, the stickwater fraction obtained afterseparation may be further condensed to yield condensed solubles. Thestep of stabilizing the condensed solubles can be with an inorganicacid.

[0092] The step of incubating the mixture in the presence of one or moreenzymes prior to the cooking step may further be included. An enzymewhich can be used includes the enzyme phytase.

[0093] When a palatability enhancer is utilized, it may be selected fromconventional products based on krill, euphausiids, and/or squid or otherlike palatability enhancers such as Finnstim™ or the like. Thepalatabiity enhancers may be added to the dried protein concentrates inamounts ranging from about 1% to about 3% by weight.

[0094] The cooking step is carried out using a heat exchanger or throughdirect steam injection coupled with batch processor. The process mayfurther comprise, if desired, the initial step of deboning the animaloffal to produced deboned animal offal and bones.

[0095] The cold pressing step should be carried out at a temperature notexceeding 85° C., desirably below about 70° C.

[0096] The source of the oil seed utilized is most desirably acommercially available particulate processed oil seed meal, which hasnot been previously subjected to initial rapid heat treatment or coldprocessing.

[0097] The extraction step may be carried out at least twice; thesolvent that can be used is includes hexane.

[0098] The processes which involve processing of oilseed prior toco-processing it with animal offal, can utilize the addition of hotwater (from about 37° C. to about 55° C.) to ground oilseed, followed byadjustment of the pH to a value of from about 5.5 to about 6.0 using aninorganic acid such as sulphuric acid; this treatment being carried outin the presence of an enzyme such as the enzyme phytase.

[0099] The various processes of the present invention can beeconomically and readily carried out using conventional equipment. Suchprocesses will provide cost effective products which can be used inplace of or added to other known products in order to achieve additionalsources of the desired ingredients for use in fish or other non-humananimal diets or human foods. The use of inexpensive fish wastes andother animal offal in the various processes of the present invention isa positive way to deal with waste streams rather than considering themas a liability.

[0100] As described hereinafter, it will be seen that the differentprocesses can be combined into one overall procedure allowing separationof products at various stages of the process.

[0101] Turning now to the various novel products and compositionsaccording to the invention, the first product relates to a proteinsource for use in animal and aquafeeds comprising an animal productselected from animal offal, whole fish too small for filletingoperations, fish by-catch and whole birds with or without feathers in anamount of about 22% to about 90% by weight; and

[0102] oilseed in an amount of about 10% to about 78% by weight; and

[0103] wherein the animal product and the oilseed have been co-processedand cooked together, following which fluids have been removed therefromto obtain a pressed mixture which has been dried to provide the proteinsource.

[0104] According to the above first, the product aspect relates to aprotein source having from about 40% to about 80% protein, desirablyfrom about 55% to about 77% protein calculated on a lipid-free dryweight basis, said source being adapted for use in animal and aquafeedsand comprising an admixture of treated oilseed protein and animal offalwhereby said admixture is characterized by at least one of thefollowing:

[0105] enriched concentrations of essential amino acids and bioavailableminerals relative to those present in said animal offal or untreatedoilseed;

[0106] enriched concentrations of highly unsaturated n-3 fatty acidsrelative to those present initially in said oilseed if said source ofanimal offal is fish;

[0107] reduced concentrations of heat-labile and water solubleantinutritional factors in an amount of at least 20% by weight relativeto non-treated oilseed protein;

[0108] increased protein digestibility relative to non-treated oilseedprotein; and

[0109] a lipid concentration of less than 10% of dry weight of saidsource.

[0110] In the first product aspect, the above product aspect of theinvention has a reduced content of heat-labile and antinutritionalcomponents of at least 80% calculated on a lipid-free dry weight basis.

[0111] An antioxidant can be included which is selected from the groupconsisting of ethoxyquin (santoquin), butylated hydroxyanisole,butylated hydroxytoluene, tertiary butyl hydroxyquinone, naturalantioxidants and mixtures thereof. The amount of antioxidant utilizedwill range depending on the components; generally speaking, this will befrom about 200 ppm to about 250 ppm in the protein concentrate, and theanimal feed grade lipid fraction resulting from the production of theconcentrate may be supplemented with about 250 ppm to about 500 ppmantioxidants. A combination of BHA and ethoxyquin or ethoxyquin alone atits highest levels can be used.

[0112] Also, the product can include an enrichment of at least one aminoacid which can be selected from the group consisting of arginine,histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, cystine,phenylalanine, tyrosine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. Preferredamino acids altered in this product are selected from lysine, methionineor cystine. Further, an enrichment of at least one mineral can beselected from the group consisting of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium,sodium, potassium, copper and zinc. Preferred minerals altered can beselected from calcium, phosphorus, sodium, zinc or mixtures thereof.

[0113] This product can comprise an enrichment of at least one n-3highly saturated fatty acid; this is preferably at least one fatty acidselected from eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid(22:6n-3) if the source of animal offal is fish.

[0114] The heat-labile and water soluble antinutritional components canbe selected from glucosinates, phenolic compounds including sinapine,chlorogenic acid, oligosaccharides, trypsin inhibitor, saponins andisoflavones or mixtures thereof.

[0115] The digestibility of a product of the invention can be about atleast 89% for Atlantic salmon in sea water (fecal settling columns orthe Guelph System of fecal collection was used). This percentage mayvary and is desirably as high as possible, e.g., in the order of fromabout 92% to about 100%.

[0116] The oilseed in the first product of the invention is selectedfrom the group consisting of canola, rapeseed, soybeans, sunflower seed,flax seed, mustard seed, cotton seed, hemp and mixtures thereof. Inpreferred embodiments, as an optional feature, the oilseed may beheat-treated.

[0117] The animal offal in the first product is most desirably selectedfrom the group consisting of whole fish, fish by-catch, fish processingwaste, squid offal, whole birds without feathers, beef offal, poultryoffal, lamb offal and mixtures thereof.

[0118] The protein and lipid contents of the first product are presentin an amount within the range (respectively) of about 50% to about 77%calculated on a lipid-free dry weight basis and less than about 10% byweight if the step involving organic solvent extraction has beenemployed.

[0119] Phytate-reduced protein concentrates can be produced. The processinvolves an additional step consisting of adding hot water (temperatureof about 37° C. to about 55° C.) to the ground oilseed in the presenceof the enzyme phytase. It should be mentioned that the moisture contentof the ground oilseed should be raised to about 80% or more and the pHshould be about 5.5 to about 6.0 by addition of an inorganic acid, suchas sulphuric acid. The mixture is then incubated for about 30 minutesand not more than 240 minutes, before being mixed with the animal offal.

[0120] The protein source finds particular use for animal and fish feedsto cost effectively and extensively replace high nutritive value proteinsources such as premium quality fish meal, or conventionally processedoilseed meals that have lower nutritional value. The advantage of theabove products according to the present invention, is that they may beproduced in a very economical manner by co-processing sources of proteinthat heretofore have been processed separately without the attendantbenefits of enhancing the nutritive value of the oilseed proteinfraction through protein and mineral complementation from the animaloffal and by concurrent reduction of the concentrations of heat-labileand water soluble antinutritional factors as well as phytic acid if theoptional initial step of phytase pretreatment of the oilseed is adopted.These protein products provide significant advantages to animal and fishfeed manufacturers which in addition to the economic savings, alsoprovide highly desirable and digestible proteins that have excellentamino acid profiles relative to the essential amino acid needs ofcommercially important animals and fish.

[0121] A second product aspect of the invention relates to anotherproduct which is an edible organic oil comprising an oilseed oil, saidorganic oil having been obtained by cold pressing oilseed in which thecold pressing was carried out at temperatures below 85° C., said oilhaving minimal lipid oxidation products and a peroxide value of lessthan about 2 milliequivalents per kg following oilseed processing.

[0122] The oilseed providing the oil of the second product is preferablyselected from canola, rape seed, sunflower seed, flax seed, mustardseed, cotton seed and mixtures thereof. Optionally, the oilseed can beheat-treated.

[0123] The edible organic oils of this aspect of the present inventionprovide highly nutritional products which can be used for humanconsumption. Such oils may be packaged and distributed per se or may beincorporated into various types of foods or food compositions whereedible oils are required or utilized. A further advantage of suchorganic oils is that they have not been subjected to any organic solventor other processing steps that would reduce their concentrations ofnatural antioxidants. Moreover, they are generated under conditions thatminimize lipid peroxidation and the products that result from theprocess. They are highly desired by health conscious people who areconcerned with ingesting vegetable oils close to their natural state.Hence, these oils command a premium price in the market place.

[0124] A third product aspect relates to an animal feed grade oil foruse in animal and aquafeeds comprising an admixture of treated oilseedoil and animal offal, said admixture having an enriched n-3 highlyunsaturated fatty acid content (20:5n-3+22:6n-3) relative to non-treatedoilseed oil if the animal offal used is fish or poultry that have beenfed diets comprising adequate concentrations of one or more fishproducts. Preferred oilseeds in this embodiment is oil derived fromcanola seed since the product may further comprise an enrichedmonounsaturated fatty acid content (18:1 n-9) relative to non-treatedoilseed oil.

[0125] The feed grade oils will find utility in animal and fish foods;they have the advantage that they can be produced in a very efficientand economic manner and they provide highly nutritional sources ofenriched unsaturated fatty acid contents. The latter lipid sources arehighly desirable particularly for use in fish feeds to partially replacepremium quality fish oil that may be expensive and difficult to obtain.This is specially true if the plant oil fraction has been enriched withn-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids from the fish offal fraction. Theseoils can be utilized individually or, if desired, combined with otherknown and conventional oils at the time of feed manufacture.

[0126] A fourth product aspect relates to a constituent for an organicfertilizer comprising at least one of canola, sunflower, soybean,mustard seed, cotton seed and hemp hulls, said hulls being dried hullsand containing protein and lipid. The hulls are heat-reated hulls. As aconstituent for organic fertilizers, products can be used in combinationwith other conventional fertilizer components such as sawdust. As aresult of adding this constituent, fertilizers have the advantage of areadily available source of nitrogen. The hulls will act as soilconditioner and carrier for nutrients, these being delivered to the soilon a sustained basis. In addition, the fourth product of the inventionwill facilitate soil irrigation and water retention in soils. Thisfeature is particularly important in times of drought.

[0127] A fifth product aspect relates to a composition of condensedsolubles for use as constituents in organic fertilizers comprising anadmixture of treated oilseed and animal offal whereby said admixture hasan enriched soluble nitrogen content, water soluble carbohydratecontent, water soluble antinutritional component content and mineralcontent.

[0128] The original hull fraction can be directed for use in ruminantdiets either as is or pretreated with carbohydrases. The original hullfraction can be used in the production of organic fertilizers where itserves as a carrier medium that is completely broken down enzymaticallyduring aerobic or anaerobic decomposition processes.

[0129] The oilseed in the fifth product is selected from canola, rapeseed, soybeans, sunflower seed, flax seed, mustard seed, cotton seed,hemp and mixtures thereof. Optionally in this fifth product, the oilseedmay be heat-treated.

[0130] The animal offal in the fifth product of the invention isselected from fish processing waste, whole fish, fish by-catch, squidoffal, whole birds without feathers, beef offal, lamb offal and mixturesthereof.

[0131] The water soluble antinutritional component can be selected fromglucosinates, phenolic compounds including sinapine, chlorogenic acid,oligosaccharides, saponins or isoflavones. Further, the solublecarbohydrate can be selected from monosaccharides, disaccharides andoligosaccharides, while the mineral can be selected from calcium,phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, copper, iron and zinc.

[0132] This product can be enriched with soluble nitrogen, phosphorus,potassium, as well as organic nutrients. As a constituent for organicfertilizers this product contributes to upgrade the quality of thefertilizer. It should stimulate plant growth, specially the rootstructure of plants.

[0133] The condensed soluble products can be utilized with otherfertilizer components to provide enhanced fertilizers. Also relating tofertilizers, the condensed solubles can be incorporated into knownfertilizers or, if desired, could be marketed as additives per se toknown fertilizers.

[0134] There is also provided a sixth product according to the presentinvention which relates to a protein and lipid-rich oilseed mealsuitable for use in fish and non-human animal diets. This productcomprises a heat-treated dehulled oilseed, said oilseed beingsubstantially free of flaxseed, mustard seed, rapeseed and cotton seed,said meal having:

[0135] from about 26% to about 40% protein on a dry weight basis;

[0136] from about 48% to about 64% protein on a lipid-free dry weightbasis;

[0137] from about 2.4% to about 4.6% methionine and cystine calculatedas a percent of said protein;

[0138] from about 3.6% to about 6.1% lysine calculated as a percent ofsaid protein;

[0139] from about 21% to about 52% lipid on a dry weight basis;

[0140] from about 2% to about 12% crude fibre on a lipid-free dry weightbasis;

[0141] from about 0.16% to about 0.45% calcium on a lipid-free dryweight basis; and

[0142] less than about 0.01% sodium on a lipid-free dry weight basis.

[0143] The sixth product of the present invention may further compriseat least one of glucosinolates, sinapine, chlorogenic acid and mixturesthereof. In preferred embodiments of this sixth product aspect, theglucosinolates are in an amount of up to about 20 μmoles of totalglucosinolates per gram on a lipid-free dry weight basis. Further, theprotein is in an amount from about 30% to 33% and lipids are in anamount from about 30% to 38%.

[0144] A trypsin inhibitor can be included in an amount of up to about8000 units/g on a lipid-free dry weight basis; sinapine can be includedin an amount of up to about 2.1% on a lipid-free dry weight basis; andthe chlorogenic acid can be in an amount of up to about 3% on alipid-free dry weight basis.

[0145] Optionally, the oilseed can be partially or totally dehulled.

[0146] Protein and lipid rich meals can be produced in a very economicalmanner and will find utility in fish and animal feeds requiring highprotein and lipid rich meal with reduced concentrations of fibre andheat-labile antinutritional factors. Their utility will depend onvarious factors such as the species of animal or fish and theirrespective requirements for protein and energy, etc. As describedpreviously with respect to other animal and fish feed sources, theproducts of this aspect of the invention can be incorporated into thefeeds of animal and fish as replacements for conventionally processedoilseed meals and oils, and fish meals and oils. Due to the protein andlipid rich content of such products, a beneficial result will beobtained in the increased digestible energy content of diets for suchanimals and fish. The protein concentration can also be increased in thepreceding meals through removal of lipid by solvent extraction whichincreases their utility as components in low energy diets for animalsand fish.

[0147] In a seventh product aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a protein concentrate containing an admixture of a co-processedoilseed and unhydrolyzed animal offal, said concentrate being suitablefor use in fish and non-human animal diets, said oilseed comprising aheat-treated dehulled oilseed substantially free of flaxseed, mustardseed, rapeseed and cotton seed, said protein concentrate having:

[0148] from about 38% to about 58% protein on a dry weight basis;

[0149] from about 52% to about 77%, desirably up to about 57% protein ona lipid-free dry weight basis;

[0150] from about 2.7% to about 4.6% methionine and cystine calculatedas a percent of protein;

[0151] from about 4.3% to about 7.9% lysine calculated as a percent ofsaid protein;

[0152] from about 24% to about 37% lipid on a dry weight basis;

[0153] from about 1.7% to about 10% crude fibre on a lipid-free dryweight basis;

[0154] from about 0.7% to about 3.6% calcium on a lipid-free dry weightbasis; and

[0155] from about 0.06% to about 0.30% sodium on a lipid-free dry weightbasis.

[0156] The seventh product may further comprise at least one ofglucosinolates, sinapine, chlorogenic acid and mixtures thereof. Inpreferred embodiments of this seventh product aspect, the glucosinolatesare in an amount of up to 4.0 μmoles of total glucosinolates per gram ona lipid-free dry weight basis.

[0157] Moreover, in a preferred embodiment of the seventh aspect, theproduct aspect contains from about 50% to about 78% protein and fromabout 7% to about 12% lipid/

[0158] A trypsin inhibitor can be included in an amount of up to about2500 units/g on a lipid-free dry weight basis; sinapine can be in anamount of up to about 1.2% on a lipid-free dry weight basis; and thechlorogenic acid can be in an amount of up to about 1.7% on a lipid-freedry weight basis.

[0159] If desired, the oilseed can also be partially or totallydehulled.

[0160] The high digestible protein content, moderate content of highlydigestible lipid, reduced fibre content and substantially reducedheat-label and water soluble antinutritional factor content make themsuitable as major replacements for fish meal and other conventionalsources of protein used in fish and non-human animal diets. Theirenriched content of at least some of the essential amino acids andminerals, together with their economical cost of production will makesuch products highly desirable as feed stuff commodities throughout theworld.

[0161] In an eighth product aspect of the present invention, there isalso provided an animal feed grade oil comprising oil derived from anadmixture of a co-processed oilseed and unhydrolyzed animal offal, saidoil being substantially free of flaxseed oil, mustard seed oil, rapeseedoil and cotton seed oil, said animal feed grade oil having:

[0162] from about 60% to about 92% of total fatty acids as unsaturatedfatty acids;

[0163] from about 8% to about 50% of total fatty acids as (n-6) fattyacids;

[0164] from about 0.5% to about 35% of total fatty acids as (n-3) fattyacids;

[0165] from about 3% to about 25% of total fatty acids as n-3 highlyunsaturated fatty acids; and

[0166] a peroxide value less than about 8 milliequivalents per kg of oilat the time of production.

[0167] The oilseed can be a raw oilseed or a heat-treated oilseed. Theanimal offal can be a fish product and the product further comprises(20:5n-3+22:6n-3).

[0168] There is a generally high content of n-3 highly unsaturated fattyacids compared to the oil from the initial oilseed used if the source ofanimal offal is fish and hence it is desirable for use in both fish andanimal diets. The additional benefits of this type of product includeease of production, economical attributes, readily available sources ofnatural products for obtaining the oil, and its adaptability toincorporation into existing animal diets, as well as its utility as aseparate dietary component.

[0169] A ninth product aspect of the present invention relates to anedible organic oil comprising oil of cold pressed heat-treated oilseed,said oil being substantially free of flaxseed oil, mustard seed oil,rapeseed oil and cotton seed oil, said organic oil comprising:

[0170] from about 86% to about 96% of total fatty acids as unsaturatedfatty acids;

[0171] from about 20 to about 80% of total fatty acids as (n-6) fattyacids; and

[0172] a peroxide value of less than about 2 milliequivalents ofperoxide per kg oil at the time of production.

[0173] The ninth product may further comprise up to about 22% of totalfatty acids as (n-3) fatty acids.

[0174] The oilseed can be undehulled, partially dehulled or totallydehulled if desired. This product is a very cost-effective organic oilfor the increasing organic human food industry and will find utility invarious types of food products or as a separate product in and ofitself. Depending on the intended utility, the animal feed grade oil canbe an oil derived from raw oilseed or the edible organic oils may bederived from raw oilseed.

[0175] It will be understood that reference to the above describedproducts which are suitable for animal and fish feeds, refers toproducts which can be used by numerous types of species. For example,depending on the geographic location, fish feeds are used in fishfarming operations for salmon, trout, tilapia, carp, catfish, sea breamand many other warm water as well as cold water species of commercialimportance. In the case of animal feeds, conventional farming practicesutilize such feeds for poultry, hogs, swine and cattle.

[0176] In further explanation of the various embodiments of both theproducts and process aspects of the present invention, the solvent usedfor extracting the mixture obtained from co-processing of oilseed andanimal offal includes hexane or other compatible solvents used in theanimal feed or human food industry.

[0177] In various embodiments of the process and product aspects of thepresent invention, the ash content in the protein concentrates can beregulated as desired by controlling the concentration of bone in theanimal offal. Thus, the ash can be controlled by using a deboning stepto obtain offal with the desired bone content. Bones in wet or dry formof different types of offal can be utilized, with varying degrees ofbone coarseness. By way of example, the ash content can thus becontrolled by controlling the amount of bone added to the mixture ofoilseed and animal offal.

[0178] In the process and product aspects of the present invention, whenreferring to animal offal such as birds or chickens, it is to beunderstood that a most preferred embodiment is the use of offal withoutbird feathers.

[0179] In both the process and product aspects of the present invention,when using dehulled seeds, the term “dehulled” is intended to mean seedswhich have substantially all of their hulls removed. However, in manycases, partially dehulled seeds can be employed as otherwise notedherein, and to this end, dehulled seeds are those which have had atleast 55% of their hulls removed.

[0180] The above described products can be produced by the variousprocesses described herein; specific embodiments of such processesproducing the products will be described hereinafter in greater detail.

[0181] As used in the specification, the term “unhydrolyzed” indescribing the animal offal refers to animal offal which has less thanabout 20% by weight of hydrolyzed content, desirably less than 5% andmost desirably no hydrolysis whatsoever (fresh, unspoiled). In mostpreferred embodiments, the amount of hydrolyzed content is as close aspossible to 0% in order to best achieve the highest nutritive value inthe products that are formed.

[0182] In this invention, the animal offal is preferably in aparticulate form such as that which would be obtained by processingprocedures resulting in minced offal. Well known techniques in the offalprocessing art can be employed to obtain such minced offal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0183] Having generally described the invention, reference will be madeto the accompanied drawing which illustrates the preferred embodimentsonly.

[0184]FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of the process according tothe present invention.

[0185]FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the process according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0186] The steps involved in the process of the invention are broadlyrepresented in FIG. 1. In this Figure, there is illustrated a schematicrepresentation of the co-processing of animal offal(s) with oilseed(s)to yield cold pressed oil indicated as product 1; hulls from dehulledoilseed meats indicated as product 2; nutritionally upgraded oilseedmeal produced from heat treated, dehulled and cold pressed oilseedindicated as product 3; animal-feed grade oil indicated as product 4;condensed solubles indicated as product 5; and high nutritive valueprotein concentrate indicated as product 6. Other products of theinvention are obtained by further processing the above-mentionedproducts as will be described in greater detail hereinafter.

[0187] In accordance with certain embodiments of the invention,undehulled oilseed (A) is used in the process. Other embodiments involvedehulled seed (B) and raw seed. Dehulled seed is preferred when it isdesired to feed monogastric species such as fish and poultry, and thepreferred raw seed used in this embodiment includes canola, sunflower,or delinted cottonseed. Undehulled oilseed (A) or dehulled oilseed (B)for monogastric diets may be used.

[0188] With respect to FIG. 2, the subsequent steps are provided forwith respect to an optional lipid extraction and solvent recovery stepcan be inserted to reduce the lipid content of the oilseed meal and justbefore or after press cake drying to reduce the lipid content of theprotein concentrate.

[0189] The initial step involves cold pressing (temperatures <85° C.using a suitable cold press) the rawwhole oilseed or alternativelysubjecting the raw seed to rapid heat treatment and then dehulling andcold pressing the heat-treated seed. If the latter option is selected,one procedure involves heating the seed at 110-115° C. for 90 secondsfollowed by an additional heating at 100-110° C. for 30 min. Otheroptions require less heat depending upon the form of heat and whether ornot a vacuum is applied during the heat process. The temperature andlength of the treatment is selected to substantially: (i) deactivate ordestroy the activity of enzymes such as myrosinase, which is the enzymeresponsible for glucosinolate hydrolysis in canola; (ii) improve thedigestibility or bioavailability of the carbohydrates present in canolaand other oilseeds; and (iii) reduce the moisture content in the seed,which results in a partial separation of the meat from the fibrousindigestible hull.

[0190] The dehulling process is further completed by subjecting theheat-treated seed through an impact, a disc, or other mechanical processcoupled with a gravity screening or air-classification process. Othertechniques may also be used in the dehulling process, and some of thesemay include sonic techniques.

[0191] The oilseed meats resulting from the cold pressing of the raw,unheated seed are not marketed directly for use in high energy animalfeeds, unlike those originating from the cold pressing of heated,dehulled seed. Indeed, the latter have been nutritionally upgraded dueto their reduced content of fibre and one or more heat-labileantinutritional factors. This meal contains about 30-33% protein and30-38% lipid. It may be used as is or it may be further subjected tosolvent extraction involving hexane, with subsequent recovery of thesolvent and the meal to reduce its lipid content, thus elevating itsprotein concentration. The meal may be directly channelled into diets ofaquatic and terrestrial species, or similar to the meal from theunheated, pressed seed, submitted without lipid extraction to the nextstep of the process. The cold pressed oils from both sources, however,are channelled into the organic human food market.

[0192] The meals from undehulled or dehulled oilseed are blended with asuitable amount of water (about 4-8:1 w/w water to oil-free dry matterof meal) and an antioxidant (e.g. 100 mg of santoquin/kg of meal). Theadded water serves to wash the oilseed meal as the blend moves throughthe cooker to either a continuous screw press that is surrounded withperforated screens or an expeller press. As the presscake moves throughthis stage of the apparatus, fluids are drained off that include waterthat contains soluble protein, some of the remaining water solubleantinutritional components such as glucosinolates (when canola is used),phenolic compounds and unwanted sugars like raffinose and stachyose; aswell as a large portion of the lipid fraction. The mechanical separationof the aforementioned solids and liquid fractions may also involve theuse of a decanter centrifuge depending upon the efficiency ofliquid/solid separation after the presscake has passed through the screwpress or expeller.

[0193] Thereafter, the fluid mixture is separated by continuouscentrifuge into stick water and animal feed grade oil fractions (thelatter may be subjected to additional processing steps as referred topreviously to create a human grade oil). The press-cake meal is driedusing a low temperature process (temperature of about 60° C. to about83° C.) to yield a dried protein-rich fraction (concentrate).

[0194] In cases where the lipid content of the dried protein fraction istoo high for the desired animal feed use, a solvent extraction stepinvolving hexane is performed, with subsequent recovery of the solventand the animal feed grade oil. In another embodiment of the invention,the solvent extraction step is performed prior to the low temperaturedrying step.

[0195] The stick water fraction mentioned above is condensed to about athird of its original volume and following acid stabilization, is thenused together with the hulls as components in organic fertilizers foragriculture.

[0196] The oilseed in accordance with the present invention is selectedfrom canola, rape seed, soybeans, sunflower seed, flax seed, mustardseed, cotton seed and hemp or mixtures of these oilseeds. The oilseedused in the process of the invention can also consist of a mixture oftwo or more different oilseeds selected from the above-mentionedoilseeds. A suitable selection of oilseeds to be mixed together in theprocess will provide for products with enhanced nutritional values. Withrespect to the protein product, the amino acid profile can be obtainedthrough amino acid complementation. Further, oil could be upgradedthrough, for example using a mixture of oleic acid, sunflower or yellowmustard with flax seed and/or canola. Such oil would have high oleicacid content and low or intermediate concentrations of linolenic acid.Also, these oils will have reduced concentrations of linoleic acid.

[0197] In accordance with the invention, oilseeds having a high contentof phytic acid, such as canola, sunflower and hemp can be subjected toenzymatic pH adjusted water treatment prior to being used in theprocess. This pretreatment involves adjustment of pH to about 5.0 toabout 5.5 and addition of enzyme phytase. The oilseeds in particulateform are incubated with phytase for about 4 hours or more, at atemperature of about 50° C. to about 55° C. In the case of hemp, theseeds have to undergo a sterilization step, to prevent germination andthis may be accomplished by using infrared energy or other suitabletechniques. The dehulling step is imperative in the case of flax seed.Alternatively, removal of at least the mucilage layer in the outer seedcoat should be carried out.

[0198] When sunflower or canola is used in the process of the inventionin the production of protein concentrates, the heat treatment step maybe avoided, however, in order to facilitate dehulling (specifically ifmechanical dehulling is being performed), the seeds are subjected to adrying step, to reduce their moisture content to about 5%.

[0199] Given the above teachings, it will be seen that the inventionalso provides protein concentrates produced by the above process,containing from about 50% to about 78% protein, that are highlydigestible and significantly depleted in antinutritional constituents(except for phytic acid in some cases if the seeds are not pretreatedwith phytase) that were present in the original oilseed. The oilseedprotein concentrates of the present invention have moderate contents oflipids (from about 5% to about 12%) that include highly digestiblemonounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The following examplesare presented to describe embodiments of the invention and are not meantto limit the invention unless otherwise stated.

[0200] Examples 1 to 10 outlined below described each step involved inthe process of the invention:

EXAMPLE 1

[0201] Animal Offal

[0202] A common batch of whole Pacific herring was used as the mainsource of animal offal for the project. Soon after the herring werecaught, they were rapidly block frozen by McMillan J. S. Fisheries Ltd.,Vancouver, BC and stored at −40° C. for about 9 months. At this time,about 500 kg of herring were transported to the Department of Fisheriesand Oceans, West Vancouver Laboratory where they were held at −20° C.until small batches of about 50 kg were partially thawed for each testrun. The thawed herring were cold extruded using a Butcher Boy equippedwith an auger, cutter knife, and perforated plate having holes withdiameter 9.52 mm.

[0203] Fresh poultry offal (heads and viscera minus feet) was also usedfor some trials that involved co-processing the offal with partiallydehulled animal feed grade sunflower seed (designated as batch 2hereinafter). The offal was obtained from West Coast Reduction Ltd.,Vancouver, BC and was stored for one night at −20° C. under cover beforebeing handled as described above for the herring.

EXAMPLE 2

[0204] Oilseeds

[0205] The four oilseeds that have been tested successfully in thisproject include Goliath canola seed (Cloutier Agra Seeds Inc., Winnipeg,MB), soybeans (InfraReady Products Ltd., Saskatoon SK), sunflower(completely dehulled confectionary grade seed obtained from North WestGrain, St. Hilaire, Minn., USA (batch 1) and undehulled animal feedgrade seed obtained from Cargill Incorporated, Wayzata, Minn., USA;batch 2), and devitalized hemp seed (SeedteclTerramax, Qu'Appelle, SKsterilized by InfraReady Products Ltd., Saskatoon SK). Delintedglandless cottonseed (California Planting Cottonseed Distributor,Bakersfield, Calif., USA) and brown flax (InfraReady Products Ltd.,Saskatoon, SK) were also tested in the process. The analytical resultspertaining to products based on the former are pending. It was concludedthat flax seed would be suitable for the process provided that the seedis almost totally dehulled or the outer mucilage layer of the seed coatis removed through an economical process.

EXAMPLE 3

[0206] Heat Treatment or Micronization of Oilseeds

[0207] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, specially for canola,soya, flax and hemp, an initial heat treatment was performed. Theprocess involved subjecting the whole seeds to infrared energy so thatthe seed temperature reached 110-115° C. for 90 seconds. Subsequently,the micronized seeds were held for 20-30 min, depending upon the seedsource, in an insulated tank where temperatures ranged from 100-110° C.(residual cooking conditions). These conditions inactivated enzymes suchas myrosinase in canola and trypsin inhibitors in soya as well asperoxidase and cyanogenic glucosides. Further, they ensureddevitalization of viable germ tissue in hemp, improved starchdigestibility, and destroyed or reduced the concentrations of heatlabile antinutritional factors other than those mentioned above.

[0208] Sunflower seeds (batches 1 and 2) were not micronized beforeco-processing with animal offal but the batch 1 seeds were dried to £10%moisture to ensure proper seed storage and facilitate dehulling. Thus,only non-micronized dehulled sunflower seeds were tested in this study.

EXAMPLE 4

[0209] Oilseed Dehulling

[0210] Micronized canola, soya, hemp and flax and non-micronized animalfeed-grade sunflower were dehulled. The process involved seed sizing,impact dehulling (Forsberg model 15-D impact huller), screening and airclassification (Forsberg model 4800-18 screener and screen-aire).

EXAMPLE 5

[0211] Oilseed Cold-pressing

[0212] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the oilseeds(micronized or raw), except soya and micronized dehulled hemp werecold-pressed at a temperature not exceeding 85° C., using a Canadiandesigned and manufactured laboratory scale Gusta cold press (1 HP Model11, Gusta Cold Press, St. Andrews, Manitoba, Canada). This served toremove some (dehulled seeds) or a significant proportion (undehulledseeds) of the residual oil (organic human food grade oil) andconcomitantly reduced the particle size of the oilseed before it wasco-processed with minced animal offal in various proportions (improvedthe efficiency of the subsequent aqueous extraction of the water solubleantinutritional factors and oligosaccharides present in the oilseed).

[0213] In a more preferred embodiment, specially for soya, the particlesize was further reduced, using a modified crumbler (model 706S, W. W.Grinder Corp., Wichita, Kans.). This machine was equipped aftermodification with dual motorized corrugated rolls. One of these had afixed speed whereas the speed of the other could be varied. For thepurpose of this investigation, the variable speed roller was adjusted torotate much faster than the fixed speed roller to achieve a shearingaction.

EXAMPLE 6

[0214] Mixing or Co-processing Step

[0215] Thawed, ground, whole animal offal (mostly herring, but in twocases poultry offal minus feet, was used) and oilseeds that had beenmicronized or dried as described in Example 3 or in raw form and eithercold pressed or ground as described in Example 5 were first combined invarious proportions. In preferred embodiments, the usual percentages ofoffal to oilseed were 75:25; 50:50; or 25:75 (w/w). Thereafter, 100 mgof santoquin (antioxidant) per kg of mixture in a marine oil carrier (1g/kg) were added. Then hot water was added to the mixture in such a waythat the ratio of water to oil-free dry matter present in the oilseedwas maintained between 3-6:1 (w/w), depending upon the source andproportion of oilseed in the mixture. Both the endogenous wateroriginating from the offal and the exogenous water were considered whencalculating the aforementioned ratios.

EXAMPLE 7

[0216] Cooking Step

[0217] The mixture obtained from co-processing of animal offal andoilseed (Example 6) was cooked for about 27 min at 90-93° C. in thesteam jacketed cooker section of a pilot-scale fish meal machine(Chemical Research Organization, Esbjerg, Denmark), that was equippedwith a heated auger (it is notworthy that the cooking step could havealso been performed by using a heat exchanger with a positivedisplacement pump or through direct steam injection coupled withprocessor). The cooking step was undertaken to: (1) minimize the loss ofsoluble protein through protein denaturation, (2) destroy or reduce theconcentration of heat labile antinutritional factors present in theoilseed (especially important when processing non-micronized seeds andmicronized soya), (3) liberate the bound cellular water and lipid in theoffal and the oilseed, and (4) subject the oilseed to aqueous washing tofacilitate removal of the water soluble antinutritional factorsoriginating from this source.

EXAMPLE 8

[0218] Pressing Step

[0219] Significant but not total removal of the latter as well as lipid(animal-feed grade product) was accomplished by passing the cookedmixture through the fish meal machine screw press that was equipped withperforated screens and then a laboratory-scale press (Vincent model CP4;Vincent Corp., Tampa Fla.). Constituents in the water fraction of thepress liquids consisted of water soluble carbohydrates such asmonosaccharides, disaccharides, or problem sugars like raffinose andstachyose, phenolic compounds, glucosinolates (when canola used),chlorogenic acid (when sunflower used), isoflavones and saponins (whensoybeans used) as well as some soluble nitrogen and water solublevitamins. In preferred embodiments, the presscake in each case was driedin the steam jacketed drier portion of the above-mentioned fish mealmachine at 75-83° C. to produce dried protein and lipid-rich products.

EXAMPLE 9

[0220] Drying Step

[0221] In one preferred embodiment, further drying of the proteinproducts was necessary to reduce their moisture content. The drying wasperformed for about 30 min to reduce their moisture content to less than10%. This was accomplished using a custom designed vertical stack(stainless steel mesh trays) pellet cooler that was equipped with twoelectric base heaters and a top mounted variable speed fan. Thetemperature of the upward drawn air was maintained between 70° C. and80° C. during the process. All protein and lipid sources stemming fromthe above process, including the cold-pressed oils were furtherstabilized with santoquin (ethoxyquin). In a more preferred embodiment,specially in the case of the dried protein products, 100 mg of santoquinwere added per kg of product in a marine oil carrier (1 g/kg). Then,each of the products was vacuum packaged in oxygen impermeable bags andstored at −20° C. pending chemical analysis or their evaluation in adigestibility trial (see below). In another embodiment, specially inrelation to the oils, 500 mg of santoquin were added per kg and theneach lipid source was stored at 4-5° C. in 1 L black plastic bottles.

EXAMPLE 10

[0222] Separation Step

[0223] In preferred embodiments, the press liquid was separated intowater and lipid fractions using an Alpha de Laval batch dairy centrifuge(Centrifuges Unlimited Inc., Calgary, Alberta). Then, the water fractionwas condensed to about one third of its original volume using a steamjacketed bowl cooker.

EXAMPLE 11

[0224] Preparation of Protein Concentrates

[0225] Protein concentrates that are mostly based on protein fromcanola, soya, sunflower and hemp were prepared by hexane extracting theproducts that originated from the co-processing of 1:1 combinations ofwhole herring and each of the preceding oilseeds. In this regard, 200 gof each of the four protein products were extracted four times withhexane (5:1 v/w). During each extraction, the mixture was held for 30min (stirred once after 15 min) before being filtered through WhatmanNo. 1 filter paper in a Buchner funnel. Following hexane extraction,each protein product was placed on a tray that was lined with aluminumfoil and then it was air-dried overnight. Then, each product was placedin the pellet cooler described in Example 9, where it was dried at about70-80° C. for 15 min to remove any residual traces of hexane.

EXAMPLE 12

[0226] In vivo Protein Digestibility Experiments

[0227] In a preferred embodiment, the in vivo availability(digestibility) of protein in some of the test protein sources that wereprepared by co-processing various proportions of whole herring withcanola, soya, sunflower and hemp was determined using Atlantic salmon insea water as the test animal. Two experiments were conducted and theexperimental conditions for each are provided in the table 1 below,wherein the flow rate of the oxygenated, filtered, ambient sea water was6-8 L/min, feeding frequency was twice daily, ration was maximum (fishfed to satiation), and the photoperiod was natural. TABLE 1 VariableExperiment 1 Experiment 2 Fish source NorAm Aquaculture, NorAmAquaculture, Campbell River, BC Campbell River, BC Range in initial mean76.6-85.8 54.2-61.6 weight (g) Number of fish per tank 15 15 Tanks perdiet  3  3 Stocking density (kg/m³) <8.6 <6.2 Water temperature (° C.)8.9-9.1 9.0-9.5 Salinity (g/L) 29-31 28-30 Dissolved oxygen (mg/L)8.5-9.4 7.5-9.0 Fecal collection period 14 13 (days)

[0228] The design of the digestibility tanks and the fecal collectionprocedures have been described by Hajen et al. (1993a,b. Aquaculture112:321-348). The experimental diets consisted of 29.85% test proteinproduct, 69.65% reference diet, and 0.5% chromic oxide as theindigestible marker. Table 2 outlined below provides the ingredient andproximate composition of the reference diet used in the digestibilityexperiments. TABLE 2 Ingredients (g/kg; air-dry basis) LT Anchovy meal643.2 Blood flour; spray-dried 41.0 Pregelatinized wheat starch 80.9 Rawwheat starch 26.9 Vitamin supplement^(1/) 18.9 Mineral supplement^(2/)18.9 Menhaden oil; stabilized^(3/) 122.4 Soybean lecithin 9.46 Cholinechloride (60%) 4.73 Vitamin C, monophosphate (42%) 3.38 Permapell 9.46Finnstim ™ 14.2 DL-methionine 1.51 Chromic oxide 5.00 Level of: Drymatter 924-926 Protein 452-453 Lipid 184 Ash 118-123 #NaCl), 1419;magnesium (as MgSO₄·7H₂O), 378; potassium (as K₂SO₄ and K₂CO₃, 1:1),1419.

[0229] After adjustment of all experimental diet mashes to a moisturecontent of 9%, they were cold pelleted using a California model CL type2 pellet mill. Diet particle size was adjusted to suit fish size. Thereference and experimental diets that were used in the study were storedat 5° C. in air-tight containers until required.

[0230] The reference and experimental diets (mixture of reference andtest diet) and lyophilized fecal samples were analyzed for levels ofmoisture, protein and chromic oxide at the DFO, West VancouverLaboratory (WVL) using the procedures described below. Subsequently, thedigestibility coefficients for protein were determined for each dietaccording to Cho et al. (1985. Finfish nutrition in Asia: methodologicalapproaches to research and development. IDRC Ottawa, Ont., 154p.). Then,the digestibility coefficients for each of the protein productsthemselves were calculated according to Forster (1999. AquacultureNutrition 5: 143-145).

[0231] The results of chemical analyses of the protein sources used inthis study and of the products derived from the co-processing of animaloffals (herring or poultry offal) with canola, sunflower, soya and hemptreated as described above are presented in Tables 3-20. The resultshave been expressed on a dry weight basis and a lipid-free dry weightbasis since the mechanical pressing of lipid from the cooked blends ofoffal and oilseed was variable and not complete. This is a function ofthe design of the presses and other conventional presses available inindustry can be of higher efficiency.

[0232] Examples 13 to 16 outlined hereinafter give the results ofchemical analyses performed on products obtained in accordance with theprocess of the invention from: canola and canola-based products,sunflower and sunflower-based products, soya and soya-based products, aswell as hemp and hemp-based products. The chemical analyses wereperformed according to the following methods:

[0233] Concentrations of protein, moisture, and ash in the proteinsources and products that were prepared as well as in all test diets andfecal samples were determined at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans,West Vancouver Laboratory (DFO-WVL) using the procedures described byHiggs et aL (1979. In J. E. Halver, and K. Tiews, eds. Finfish Nutritionand Fishfeed Technology, Vol. 2. Heenemann Verlagsgesellschaft MbH.,Berlin, pp. 191-218).

[0234] Similarly, the fatty acid compositions of the cold pressed oilsand animal feed grade oils stemming from the press liquids weredetermined at the same laboratory using the procedures of Silver et al.(1993. In S. J. Kaushik and P. Luquet, eds. Fish nutrition in practice.IV^(th) International Symposium on Fish Nutrition and Feeding, INRA,Paris, pp. 459-468).

[0235] Moreover, the chromic acid concentrations in diets andlyophilized fecal samples were determined at the DFO-WVL using themethods of Fenton and Fenton (1979. Can. J. Anim. Sci., 59: 631-634).

[0236] Concentrations of crude fibre (AOCS Official Method Ba 6-84),lipid (Troeng, S. 1955. J.A.O.C.S. 32: 124-126), chlorogenic acid(capillary electrophoresis method developed by M. Marianchuk at the POSPilot Plant Corp.) and sinapine (capillary electrophoresis methoddeveloped by P. Kolodziejczyk et al. at the POS Pilot Plant Corp.) inthe oilseeds and test protein products as well as measurements oftrypsin inhibitor (AOCS Official Method Ba 12-75 reapproved 1997) andurease (AOCS Official Method Ba 9-58 reapproved 1993) activities in soyaand sunflower seeds and protein products were determined at the POSPilot Plant Corp., Saskatoon, SK according to the methods cited in theparentheses.

[0237] Determinations of the amino acid concentrations in the oilseedsand test protein products were conducted by AAA Laboratory, MercerIsland, Wash., USA using the general procedures described by Mwachireyaet al. (1999. Aquaculture Nutrition 5: 73-82).

[0238] Levels of phytic acid in all oilseeds and in the products derivedfrom the co-processing of oilseeds and animal offal were determined byRalston Analytical Laboratories, Saint Louis, Mo. using the proceduresdescribed by Forster et al. (1999. Aquaculture 179:109-125).

[0239] Mineral concentrations in the oilseeds and the protein productswere determined by Norwest Labs, Surrey, BC using plasma spectroscopy(Higgs et al., 1982. Aquaculture 29: 1-31).

[0240] Concentrations of glucosinolate compounds (total of all thedifferent types of glucosinolates) present in canola and canola-basedproducts were measured by Dr. Phil Raney, of Agriculture & Agri-FoodCanada, Saskatoon, SK according to the methods of Daun and McGregor(1981. Glucosinolate Analysis of Rapeseed (Canola). Method of theCanadian Grain Commission Revised Edn. Grain Research Laboratory,Canadian Grain Commission, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada).

[0241] Measurements of soy isoflavones namely, daidzein, glycitein,genistein, and saponins were conducted by Dr. Chung-Ja C. Jackson, ofthe Guelph Center for Functional Foods, University of Guelph LaboratoryServices and have been reported here as the total for the precedingcompounds (the methodology in each case is the subject of a patentapplication and hence has not been published).

EXAMPLE 13

[0242] Results Obtained for Canola and Canola-based Products

[0243] Table 3 outlined below gives the percentages of extensivelydehulled and partially dehulled Goliath canola seed and of hulls inrelation to seed size after dehulling by Forsberg Incorporated, ThiefRiver Falls, Minn. TABLE 3 Seed size/fraction Weight (kg) % Extensively35.8 39.4 dehulled; large^(1/) Extensively 10.8 11.8 dehulled;small^(1/) Partially dehulled; 20.4 22.4 large^(2/) Partially dehulled;14.3 15.7 small^(2/) Hulls; small^(3/) 3.33 3.66 Hulls; large^(3/) 6.497.13 Total 91.1 100

[0244] Table 4 gives the percentages of presscake and oil obtained aftercold pressing raw, undehulled and micronized, dehulled Goliath canolaseed using a laboratory scale Gusta press. TABLE 4 Raw, undehulledMicronized, dehulled Fraction canola seed canola seed Presscake (%) 68.384.0 Oil (%) 31.7 16.0 Total 100 100

[0245] Table 5 sets out the initial ratios of water from endogenous andexogenous sources to oilseed lipid-free dry matter content andpercentage yields (air-dry product, moisture-free product, andlipid-free dry weight product) from the co-processing of differentblends of to whole herring (WH) with dehulled, micronized (DC) andundehulled raw Goliath canola seed (URC). TABLE 5 Initial ratio of hotwater Moisture- Lipid-free to oilseed Air-dry free dry Proteinlipid-free dry product product product Product^(1/) matter (w/w) (%) (%)(%) WH75DC25 5:1 29.4 27.0 19.4 WH50DC50 5:1 32.7 31.1 20.4 WH37.5DC62.55:1 34.8 31.8 20.0 WH75URC25 4.5:1 30.5 27.1 19.0 WH50URC50 5:1 30.929.8 21.3 WH25URC75 5:1 29.6 28.6 20.5

[0246] In Table 6, the concentrations of proximate constituentsincluding crude fibre (CF) as well as phytic acid (PA), totalglucosinolates (TG), and sinapine in whole herring (WH), dehulledmicronized cold pressed Goliath canola (DC), undehulled raw cold pressedGoliath canola (URC), and six protein products produced by theco-processing of different proportions of WH with either DC or URC(expressed on a dry weight basis, DWB or lipid-free dry weight basis,LFDWB) are provided. The composition of a seventh protein product thatwas produced by hexane extraction of WH50DC50 is also shown(WH50DC50-hexane) together with the apparent protein digestibilitycoefficients for some of the products (Atlantic salmon in sea water usedas the test animal) is also provided. TABLE 6 WH50 WH50 WH75 WH50 DC50WH37.5 WH75 WH50 WH25 Parameter WH DC URC DC25 DC50 (hexane) DC62.5URC25 0 URC75 Dry matter (g/kg) 286 954 936 918 952 928 914 890 966 968Protein (g/kg) -DWB 488 279 348 529 456 693 416 525 414 404 -LFDWB 870515 469 735 696 724 662 748 578 564 Lipid (g/kg) -DWB 439 458 258 280345 42.5 372 298 284 284 Ash (g/kg) -DWB 70.3 48 60.9 81 67.1 97.2 6377.1 78.8 73.5 -LFDWB 125 88.6 82.1 113 102 102 100 110 110 103 CF(g/kg) -DWB — ^(1/) 28.3 66.5 21 24.7 38.3 28.9 — 69.2 76.4 -LFDWB —52.2 89.6 29.2 37.7 40 46 — 96.6 107 PA (g/kg) -DWB — 28.2 33.9 15.622.9 — 25.5 14.2 26 30.7 -LFDWB — 52 45.6 21.6 35 — 40.6 20.2 36.3 42.9TG (μmoles/g) — — 10.8 17.8 1.09 1.26 — 0.92 0.44 0.9 1.06 DWB -LFDWB —19.9 24 1.52 1.92 — 1.47 0.63 1.26 1.49 Sinapine (g/kg) — — 11.2 13.13.16 4.94 — 5.8 2.92 5.18 5.68 DWB -LFDWB — 20.7 17.7 4.39 7.54 — 9.234.16 7.23 7.94 In vivo protein — — — 88.9 94.4 — 94.9 — 94.4 96.4digestibility (%)

[0247] Table 7 provides the concentrations of essential amino acids (%of protein) and selected minerals (μg/g of lipid-free dry matter) inwhole herring (WH), micronized, dehulled, cold pressed Goliath canola(DC), undehulled, raw cold pressed Goliath canola (URC), and six proteinproducts produced by the co-processing of different propotions of WHwith either DC or URC. The amino acid and mineral concentrations in aseventh protein product, produced by hexane extraction of WH50DC50 arealso shown (WH50DC50-hexane). TABLE 7 WH50 WH75 WH50 WH75 WH50 DC50WH37.5 URC2 URC5 WH25 Parameter WH DC URC DC25 DC50 (hexane) DC62.5 5 0URC75 A) Essential amino acids Arginine 6.66 7.09 ^(1/) 7.23 7.44 7.56.93 — — — Histidine 1.97 2.84 — 2.62 2.69 2.69 2.59 — — — Isoleucine4.56 4.28 — 4.81 4.78 4.71 4.51 — — — Leucine 8.4 7.47 — 8.15 8.22 8.017.71 — — — Lysine 5.47 3.87 — 4.92 4.85 7.01 4.4 — — — Methionine + 3.974.55 — 4.54 4.63 4.25 4.47 — — — Cystine Phenylalanine + 7.55 7.26 —8.08 8.14 7.93 7.54 — — — Tyrosine Threonine 4.97 4.62 — 4.83 4.89 4.734.61 — — — Tryptophan 1.51 1.72 — 1.69 1.63 0.92 1.69 — — — Valine 5.515.34 — 5.66 5.75 5.23 5.36 — — — B) Minerals Calcium 30303 4061 518323905 14594 16202 12195 22088 14458 10244 Phosphorus 19073 18760 1727823299 21971 23746 20384 21127 20675 20777 Magnesium 1961 7929 7631 43885934 6921 6098 4161 6289 8599 Sodium 5704 <100 <100 3026 1443 1598 12202081 772 495 Potassium 14260 18566 18142 12104 12348 14293 12544 1024411234 12019 Copper 5.2 3.09 <1.00 15.4 6.09 12.0 8.36 11.4 10.7 9.81Zinc 101 70.8 66.7 116 101 106 79.6 96.2 74.6 71.1

[0248] Table 8 sets out the percentages of selected fatty acids and ofsaturated, unsaturated, (n-6), (n-3) and n-3 highly unsaturated fattyacids (n-3 HUFA; 20:5 (n-3)+22:6 (n-3)) in whole herring (WH),undehulled raw cold pressed Goliath canola (URC), and the press lipidsresulting from the co-processing of different proportions of WH with DCor URC. TABLE 8 WH75 WH50 WH37.5 WH75 WH50 WH25 Fatty acid WH URC DC25DC50 DC62.5 URC25 URC50 URC75 18:1 (n-9) 18.9 62.7 35.7 49.9 55.0 —^(1/)22 25.7 18:2 (n-6) 0.74 21.4 7.34 15.0 17.5 — 10.3 17 18:3 (n-3) 0.128.79 3.28 0.34 7.40 — 2.67 4.28 20:5 (n-3) 9.66 0.00 15.4 3.75 2.71 —4.21 5.83 22:6 (n-3) 8.96 0.00 7.00 4.11 1.38 — 6.69 0 Total 22.2 4.3220.3 12.4 9.88 — 22.1 20.3 Saturated Total 77.8 95.7 79.7 87.6 90.1 —77.9 79.7 Unsaturated Total (n-6) 4.82 21.7 8.56 15.5 17.9 — 14.1 20Total (n-3) 31.3 9.96 28.0 14.7 11.8 — 21.7 15.3 Total n-3 HUFA 18.6 022.4 7.86 4.09 — 10.09 5.813

EXAMPLE 14

[0249] Results Obtained for Sunflower and Sunflower-based Products

[0250] In Table 9, initial ratios of water from endogenous and exogenoussources to oilseed lipid-free dry matter and percentage yields (air-dryproduct, moisture-free product, and lipid-free dry weight product) fromthe co-processing of different blends of whole herring (WH) or poultryoffal (PO) with dehulled, raw sunflower seed, batch 1 (DRSF₁) or batch 2(DRSF₂) are provided. TABLE 9 Initial ratio of hot water Moisture-Lipid-free to oilseed Air-dry free dry Protein lipid-free dry productproduct product Product^(1/) matter (w/w) (%) (%) (%) WH75DRSF₁25 5:130.4 28.2 19.7 WH50DRSF₁50 3:1 31.6 29.0 19.4 WH25DRSF₁75 3:1 31.7 31.119.9 PO50DRSF₂50 6:1 46.9 43.0 31.3 #77-83° C.

[0251] Table 10 gives the concentrations of proximate constituentsincluding crude fibre (CF), phytic acid (PA), trypsin inhibitor activity(TI), urease activity (UA) and chlorogenic acid (CA) content in wholeherring (WH), poultry offal (PO), dehulled, raw cold pressed sunflower,batch 1 (DRSF₁), and five protein products produced by the co-processingof different proportions of WH or PO with either DRSF₁ or dehulled, rawcold pressed sunflower, batch 2 (DRSF₂) (expressed on a dry weightbasis, DWB or lipid-free dry weight basis, LFDWB). The composition of asixth protein product that was produced by hexane extraction ofWH50DRSF₁50 is also shown (WH50DRSF₁50-hexane) together with theapparent protein digestibility coefficients for some of the products(Atlantic salmon in sea water used as the test animal). TABLE 10 WH50WH75 WH50 DRSF₁50 WH25 PO50 Parameter WH PO DRSF₁ DRSF₁25 DRSF₁50(hexane) DRSF₁75 DRSF₂50^(2/) Dry matter (g/kg) 286 328 938 928 919 930981 918 Protein (g/kg) 488 370 351 535 479 695 441 382 -DWB -LFDWB 870673 594 766 715 718 689 525 Lipid (g/kg) -DWB 439 451 409 302 330 32.2360 271 Ash (g/kg) -DWB 70.3 104 50.7 126 118 95.8 115 58.9 -LFDWB 125189 85.8 181 176 99 180 80.8 CF (g/kg) -DWB —^(1/) — 34 19.2 32.4 37.527.2 124 -LFDWB — — 57.5 27.5 48.4 38.8 42.5 170 PA (g/kg) -DWB — — 31.414.2 23.3 — 30.7 25.9 -LFDWB — — 53.2 20.4 34.8 — 47.9 35.6 TI (TlAunits/g) — — — 1603 1766 1730 — 1268 LFDWB UA (ΔpH) — — 0.06 0.03 0.02 —0.01 CA (g/kg) -DWB — — 14.9 2.6 5.65 — 8.58 6.22 -LFDWB — — 27.7 3.728.43 13.4 8.53 In vivo protein — — — 97.6 — 97.1 — digestibility (%)

[0252] Table 11 gives the concentrations of essential amino acids (% ofprotein) and selected minerals (μg/g of lipid-free dry matter) in wholeherring (WH), poultry offal (PO), dehulled, raw, cold pressed sunflower,batch 1 (DRSF₁), and four protein products produced by the co-processingof different proportions of WH or PO with either DRSF₁ or DRSF₂. Theconcentrations in a fifth protein product, produced by hexane extractionof WH50DRSF₁50, is also shown (WH50DRSF₁50-hexane). TABLE 11 WH50 WH75WH50 DRSF₁50 WH25 PO50 Parameter WH PO DRSF₁ ^(2/) DRSF₁25 DRSF₁50(hexane) DRSF₁75 DRSF₂50^(3/) A) Essential amino acids Arginine 6.668.11 10.6 7.66 8.58 8.64 9.16 8.52 Histidine 1.97 1.91 2.59 2.34 2.422.40 2.41 2.56 Isoleucine 4.56 3.19 4.45 4.28 4.45 4.52 4.38 4.56Leucine 8.40 5.88 6.32 7.16 6.96 7.11 6.57 6.95 Lysine 5.47 5.28 3.676.88 5.57 5.57 4.30 4.59 Methionine + Cystine 3.97 3.16 3.61 3.71 3.413.61 3.42 3.25 Phenylalanine + 7.55 5.45 7.66 7.46 7.65 7.82 7.55 7.72Tyrosine Threonine 4.97 3.67 4.15 4.40 4.17 4.10 4.06 3.99 Tryptophan1.51 0.75 1.28 1.27 0.78 1.27 1.03 1.40 Valine 5.51 4.03 5.19 5.09 5.294.86 5.08 4.81 B) Minerals Calcium 30303 —^(1/) 1930 33810 15055 1499910226 12420 Phosphorus 19073 — 22188 29950 25011 23221 23573 15843Magnesium 1961 — 10805 4493 7503 7544 9987 4992 Sodium 5704 — 19.8 22231454 1378 836 852 Potassium 14260 — 23090 11085 14406 15110 15036 9894Copper 5.20 — 39.1 21.6 36.5 28.9 37.0 39.9 Zinc 101 — 124 99.0 118 124123 93.0

[0253] In Table 12, percentages of selected fatty acids and ofsaturated, unsaturated, (n-6), (n-3) and n-3 highly unsaturated fattyacids (n-3 HUFA; 20:5 (n-3)+22:6 (n-3)) in whole herring (WH), poultryoffal (PO), dehulled, raw, cold pressed sunflower, batch 1 (DRSF₁), andthe press lipids resulting from the co-processing of differentproportions of WH or PO with DRSF₁ or dehulled, raw, cold pressedsunflower, batch 2 (DRSF₂). TABLE 12 Lipid source WH75 WH50 WH25 PO50Fatty acid WH PO DRSF₁ DRSF₁25 DRSF₁50 DRSF₁75 DRSF₂50^(2/) 18:1 (n-9)18.9 39.9 9.39 21.6 18.2 —^(1/) 17.9 18:2 (n-6) 0.74 17.6 76.6 22.4 25.3— 38.7 18:3 (n-3) 0.12 2.56 0.11 4.28 0.42 — 0.80 20:5 (n-3) 9.66 0.000.00 3.15 3.67 — 0.00 22:6 (n-3) 8.96 0.00 0.00 6.04 7.87 — 0.00 Total22.2 33.9 12.1 16.9 14.5 — 37.7 Saturated Total 77.8 66.17 87.9 83.185.5 — 62.3 Unsaturated Total (n-6) 4.82 17.8 76.6 29.5 36.3 — 38.7Total (n-3) 31.3 2.56 0.12 19.2 17.7 — 0.80 Total n-3 HUFA 18.6 0.000.00 9.19 11.5 — 0.00

EXAMPLE 15

[0254] Results Obtained for Soya and Soya-based Products

[0255] In Table 13, the initial ratios of water from endogenous andexogenous sources to oilseed, lipid-free dry matter and percentageyields (air-dry product, moisture-free product, and lipid-free dryweight product) from the co-processing of different blends of wholeherring (WH) with dehulled, micronized (DSY) and undehulled raw soyaseed (URSY). TABLE 13 Initial ratio of hot water Moisture- Lipid-free tooilseed Air-dry free dry Protein lipid-free dry product product productProduct^(1/) matter (w/w) (%) (%) (%) WH75DSY25 5:1 14.2 13.6 10.3WH50DSY50 5:1 36.7 34.9 26.4 WH25DSY75 4:1 48.3 43.8 32.7 WH75URSY25 5:120.7 19.1 15.0 WH50URSY50 5:1 29.9 27.4 21.1 WH25URSY75 4:1 43.8 38.433.7

[0256] Table 14 shows the concentrations of proximate constituentsincluding crude fibre (CF) as well as phytic acid (PA), total saponins,total isoflavones (TIF), urease activity (UA), and trypsin inhibitoractivity (TI) in whole herring (WH), dehulled, micronized, soya (DSY),undehulled, raw soya (URSY), and six protein products produced by theco-processing of different proportions of WH with either DSY or URSY(expressed on a dry weight basis, DWB or lipid-free dry weight basis,LFDWB). The composition of a seventh protein product that was producedby hexane extraction of WH50DSY50 is also shown (WH50DSY50-hexane)together with the apparent protein digestibility coefficients for someof the products (Atlantic salmon in sea water used as the test animal).TABLE 14 WH50 WH50 WH75 WH50 DSY50 WH25 WH75 URSY5 WH25 Parameter WH DSYURSY DSY25 DSY50 (hexane) DSY75 URSY25 0 URSY75 Dry matter (g/kg) 286921 897 956 950 936 907 921 916 878 Protein (g/kg) — 488 396 334 526 531647 507 497 429 388 DWB -LFDWB 870 522 434 696 701 668 680 633 557 504Lipid (g/kg) — 439 242 230 244 242 30.1 254 215 230 232 DWB Ash (g/kg) —70.3 50.3 57.1 77.2 59.4 71.2 52.2 85.8 66.4 56.8 DWB -LFDWB 125 66.474.2 102 78.4 73.4 70.0 109 86.2 74.0 CF (g/kg) — — ^(1/) 16.2 44.6 16.016.3 18.7 19.3 46.6 67.5 82.2 DWB -LFDWB — 21.3 57.9 21.2 21.5 19.3 25.959.3 87.6 107 PA (g/kg) — — 14.9 20.0 9.87 11.9 — 12.9 12.5 15.9 17.2DWB -LFDWB — 19.6 25.9 13.1 15.7 — 17.3 15.9 20.7 22.4 Saponins (mg/g) —1.60 — 0.71 1.02 — 1.18 — — — -DWB -LFDWB — 2.11 — 0.94 1.35 — 1.58 — —— TIF (μg/g) — — 2305 — 899 1402 — 1622 — — — DWB -LFDWB — 3041 — 11891850 — 2174 — — — UA (ΔpH) — 0.01 2.48 0.02 0.01 — 0.02 0.09 0.28 0.35TI (TIA units/g) — — 7813 101563 871 1017 — 553 1902 8296 11138 LFDWB Invivo protein — — — — 96.2 — 94.2 — 93.5 88.2 digestibility (%)

[0257] Table 15 provides concentrations of essential amino acids (% ofprotein) and selected minerals (μg/g of lipid-free dry matter) in wholeherring (WH), dehulled, micronized, soya (DSY), and three proteinproducts produced by the co-processing of different proportions of WHwith DSY. The concentrations in a fourth protein product, produced byhexane extraction of WH50DSY50, is also shown (WH50DSY50-hexane). TABLE15 WH50 WH75 WH50 DSY50 WH25 Parameter WH DSY DSY25 DSY50 (hexane) DSY75A) Essential amino acids Arginine 6.66 7.57 7.39 7.17 7.64 7.38Histidine 1.97 2.48 2.45 2.42 2.49 2.47 Isoleucine 4.56 4.65 4.67 4.604.83 4.57 Leucine 8.40 7.53 7.66 7.48 8.00 7.58 Lysine 5.47 6.14 7.136.70 6.72 6.52 Methionine + Cystine 3.97 2.46 3.30 2.70 3.20 2.97Phenylalanine + 7.55 8.56 8.21 8.27 8.78 8.47 Tyrosine Threonine 4.974.21 4.57 4.37 4.44 4.30 Tryptophan 1.51 1.45 1.38 1.31 1.20 1.35 Valine5.51 4.54 5.26 5.04 4.79 4.99 B) Minerals Calcium 30303 2637 22138 143049958 8646 Phosphorus 19073 9339 19648 14998 11897 12385 Magnesium 19613638 2684 2597 2324 2971 Sodium 5704 <5.00 2228 1290 1157 668 Potassium14260 27646 17157 16942 13769 17587 Copper 5.20 21.6 36.7 26.7 23.6 27.2Zinc 101 57.3 75.3 65.5 65.6 67.8

[0258] Table 16 provides the percentages of selected fatty acids and ofsaturated, unsaturated, (n-6), (n-3) and n-3 highly unsaturated fattyacids (n-3 HUFA; 20:5 (n-3)+22:6 (n-3)) in whole herring (WH),micronized, dehulled, soya (DSY), undehulled, raw soya (URSY), and thepress lipids resulting from the co-processing of different proportionsof WH with DSY or URSY. TABLE 16 Lipid source WH75 WH50 WH25 WH75 WH50WH25 Fatty acid WH DSY URSY DSY25 DSY50 DSY75 URSY25 URSY50 URSY75 18:1(n-9) 18.9 17.8 17.4 17.9 18.86 15.8 18.4 14.5 13.1 18:2 (n-6) 0.74 57.557.2 6.39 10.1 22.8 8.24 13.0 25.2 18:3 (n-3) 0.12 9.79 10.2 2.67 2.194.38 2.99 2.79 4.60 20:5 (n-3) 9.66 0.00 0.00 11.2 6.92 5.58 10.4 7.855.17 22:6 (n-3) 8.96 0.00 0.00 8.55 8.11 6.77 9.10 8.33 6.29 Total 22.213.4 13.3 22.1 25.7 22.8 21.0 26.4 26.8 Saturated Total 77.8 86.6 86.777.9 74.3 77.2 79.0 73.6 73.2 Unsaturated Total (n-6) 4.82 57.9 57.89.26 10.1 22.8 8.24 13.0 25.2 Total (n-3) 31.3 10.0 10.4 29.3 25.6 24.532.7 27.5 22.1 Total n-3 HUFA 18.6 0.00 0.00 19.7 15.0 12.3 19.5 16.211.5

EXAMPLE 16

[0259] Results Obtained for Hemp and Hemp-based Products.

[0260] In Table 17, the initial ratios of water from endogenous andexogenous sources to oilseed lipid-free dry matter and percentage yields(air-dry product, moisture-free product, and lipid-free dry weightproduct) from the co-processing of different blends of whole herring(WH) with dehulled, sterilized (DHP) and undehulled sterilized hemp seed(UHP). TABLE 17 Initial ratio of hot water Moisture- Lipid-free tooilseed Air-dry free dry Protein lipid-free dry product product productProduct^(1/) matter (w/w) (%) (%) (%) WH75DHP25 5:1 3.04 2.93 2.80WH50DHP50 4:1 20.4 19.9 15.1 WH25DHP75 3:1 37.3 32.6 23.2 WH75UHP25 5:115.0 14.7 11.9 WH50UHP50 5:1 36.9 36.4 31.4 WH25UHP75 4:1 40.3 39.7 34.2

[0261] Table 18 gives the concentrations of proximate constituentsincluding crude fibre (CF) as well as phytic acid (PA) in whole herring(WH), dehulled, sterilized hemp (DHP), cold pressed undehulled,sterilized hemp (UHP), and six protein products produced by theco-processing of different proportions of WH with either DHP or UHP(expressed on a dry weight basis, DWB or lipid-free dry weight basis,LFDWB). The composition of a seventh protein product that was producedby hexane extraction of WH50DHP50 is also shown (WH50DHP50-hexane)together with the apparent protein digestibility coefficients for someof the products (Atlantic salmon in sea water used as the test animal).TABLE 18 WH50 WH75 WH50 DHP50 WH25 WH75 WH50 WH25 Parameter WH DHP UHPDHP25 DHP50 (hexane) DHP75 UHP25 UHP50 UHP75 Dry matter (g/kg) 286 963952 976 975 969 874 983 986 986 Protein (g/kg) 488 313 311 579 575 721533 504 429 448 -DWB -LFDWB 870 632 399 765 757 746 750 625 498 520Lipid (g/kg) — 439 505 221 243 240 33.4 289 193 138 138 DWB Ash (g/kg) —70.3 59.2 63.6 99.2 88.7 118 87.6 77.4 116 117 DWB -LFDWB 125 120 81.6131 117 122 123 95.9 135 136 CF (g/kg) -DWB — ^(1/) 44.1 251 14.7 39.151.9 52.5 153 237 239 -LFDWB — 89.2 322 19.4 51.4 53.7 73.9 189 275 277PA (g/kg) -DWB — 37.5 33.7 12.5 35.2 — 47.7 15.3 25.3 24.6 -LFDWB — 75.743.3 16.5 46.3 — 67.1 18.9 29.3 28.6 In vivo protein — — — — 96.1 — 99.9— — — digestibility (%)

[0262] Table 19 shows the concentrations of essential amino acids (% ofprotein) and selected minerals (μg/g of lipid-free dry matter) in wholeherring (WH), dehulled, sterilized hemp (DHP), and three proteinproducts produced by the co-processing of different proportions of WHwith DHP. or UHP. The concentrations in a fourth protein product,produced by hexane extraction of WH50DHP50, are also shown(WH50DHP50-hexane). TABLE 19 WH75 WH50 WH50 WH25 Parameter WH DHP DHP25DHP50 DHP50 (hexane) DHP75 A) Essential amino acids Arginine 6.66 14.08.48 10.4 10.6 11.7 Histidine 1.97 2.81 2.53 2.58 2.62 2.71 Isoleucine4.56 4.24 4.97 4.72 4.79 4.54 Leucine 8.40 6.72 8.32 7.70 7.90 7.31Lysine 5.47 3.81 7.93 6.45 6.39 5.35 Methionine + Cystine 3.97 4.11 4.114.08 4.02 3.91 Phenylalanine + Tyrosine 7.55 8.41 8.62 8.48 8.68 8.52Threonine 4.97 3.71 4.80 4.37 4.36 4.06 Tryptophan 1.51 0.40 0.41 0.751.39 0.75 Valine 5.51 4.97 5.58 5.37 5.19 5.20 B) Minerals Calcium 303031792 35867 16734 17616 7789 Phosphorus 19073 31048 29641 28340 2765231219 Magnesium 1961 14202 3668 8772 8531 12375 Sodium 5704 37.8 25581646 1708 1162 Potassium 14260 18880 10882 11876 13559 14419 Copper 5.2030.8 18.7 22.5 26.5 25.4 Zinc 101 169 101 125 141 154

[0263] Table 20 sets out the percentages of selected fatty acids and ofsaturated, unsaturated, (n-6), (n-3) and n-3 highly unsaturated fattyacids (n-3 HUFA; 20:5 (n-3)+22:6 (n-3)) in whole herring (WH), dehulled,sterilized hemp (DHP), undehulled, sterilized hemp (UHP), and the presslipids resulting from the co-processing of different proportions of WHwith DHP or UHP. TABLE 20 Lipid source WH75 WH50 WH25 WH75 WH50 WH25Fatty acid WH DHP UHP DHP25 DHP50 DHP75 UHP25 UHP50 UHP75 18:1(n-9) 18.95.48 7.72 8.30 8.63 6.51 15.5 17.1 14.2 18:2(n-6) 0.74 57.7 56.4 30.942.7 49.8 18.7 18.9 33.6 18:3(n-3) 0.12 19.8 19.0 10.9 15.0 16.8 7.127.32 11.5 20:5(n-3) 9.66 0.16 0.02 4.30 2.72 1.55 4.63 3.46 0.0522:6(n-3) 8.96 0.00 0.00 3.94 2.68 1.91 7.05 5.94 3.00 Total 22.2 12.510.0 24.0 16.4 14.6 20.8 21.4 16.7 Saturated Total 77.8 87.5 90.0 76.083.6 85.4 79.2 78.6 83.3 Unsaturated Total (n-6) 4.82 57.7 60.6 31.642.8 49.9 21.8 20.9 36.5 Total (n-3) 31.3 20.3 19.1 23.4 24.2 22.1 25.922.6 18.3 Total n-3 HUFA 18.6 0.16 0.02 8.25 5.39 3.46 11.7 9.40 3.05

[0264] The co-processing of animal offal with the foregoing oilseedspretreated using the methods according to the present invention resultedin nutritionally upgraded protein sources suitable for use.

[0265] The yields of these protein sources were good for all canola andsunflower-based products and this was also true for the soya andhemp-based products when higher concentrations (≧50% in initial mixture)of these treated oilseeds were used. All of the yields were likelyunderestimated of true values owing to the difficulty in quantitativelycollecting all of the material from the drier portion of the fish mealmachine.

[0266] The oilseed-based protein products contained high concentrationsof protein that was highly bioavailable to salmon (generally 89% to 100%of the protein was noted to be digestible in Atlantic salmon held in seawater depending upon the source and percentage of the oilseed in theinitial mixture of offal and oilseed and the pretreatment of the latterand the offal before their co-processing). Moreover, these proteinproducts had significantly reduced concentrations of all heat labile andwater soluble antinutritional factors except phytic acid relative totheir respective initial levels in the oilseeds. Phytic acid wasconcentrated during the co-processing of offal with oilseed and theextent depended upon its initial concentration in the oilseed used inthe process.

[0267] The fatty acid compositions of the animal feed grade lipidsources produced by the process largely reflected the fatty acidcompositions and lipid levels contributed by the different proportionsof the animal offal and oilseed used initially in the process. Thisprovides considerable scope to produce specially designed lipid sourcesthat are tailored to meet the fatty acid needs of various animalspecies.

[0268] The cold-pressing of oilseeds before they are blended with animaloffal yielded high quality economically valuable human food grade oilswhose fatty acid compositions can be varied, depending upon marketrequirements and the selection of the oilseed or combination of oilseedsthat are used in cold pressing. The high value of the cold pressed oilswhich can be generated in greater quantities wen undehulled seeds ratherthan dehulled seeds are cold pressed will contribute to the overalleconomic viability of the co-processing of animal offals with oilseeds.

[0269] The hulls resulted from the dehulling of the oilseeds used inthis study and the condensed solubles produced by co-processing animaloffal(s) with oilseed(s) likely will be excellent organic fertilizerconstituents. This is because they collectively contain soluble protein,some lipid and minerals and other components that can be degraded byaerobic or anaerobic bacterial processes into value-added fertilizerproducts making the overall process described herein economicallyviable.

[0270] The rapid heat treatment of oilseeds to inactivate enzymes likethe protease inhibitors in soya and destruct heat labile antinutritionalcomponents coupled with the dehulling of oilseeds yield protein andlipid-rich products that potential can be used directly in high energyfeeds such as those destined for aquatic species like salmon (salmongrower diets frequently contain 25-35% lipid on an air-dry basis andthey are produced by extrusion processing technology).

We claim:
 1. A process for preparation of nutritionally upgraded oilseedmeals, which are protein and lipid-rich and have a reduced fibrecontent, and plant oils from oilseeds suitable for use in fish or othernon-human animal diets or human foods comprising the steps of: providinga source of oilseed; subjecting said oilseed to heat treatment tosubstantially reduce the concentration of at least some antinutritionalcomponents normally present in said oilseed to obtain heat-treated seed;dehulling said heat-treated seed to produce a meat fraction, a hullfraction or a mixture thereof; and cold pressing said meat fraction orsaid mixture to yield said plant oils and said protein and lipid-richmeals.
 2. A process for preparation of nutritionally upgraded oilseedmeals, which are protein and lipid-rich and have a reduced fibrecontent, and plant oils from oilseeds for use in fish or other non-humananimal diets or human foods comprising the steps of: providing a sourceof oilseed; subjecting said oilseed to heat treatment to substantiallyreduce the concentration of at least some antinutritional componentsnormally present in said oilseed to obtain heat-treated particulateseed; providing a source of unhydrolyzed animal offal; blending saidheat-treated seed in particulate form with said animal offal, and ifrequired water together with an antioxident, to form a mixture thereof;cooking said mixture under conditions selected to substantially improveprotein digestibility, and substantially free cellular water present insaid animal offal, as well as to facilitate separation of protein fromthe lipid in said animal offal and said oilseeds to obtain a cookedmixture; and separating said cooked mixture into a stickwater fraction,a moisture containing protein-rich fraction, and an animal feed gradeoil fraction.
 3. A process according to claim 1, for the preparation ofprotein concentrates and lipid sources from co-processing of animaloffal with oilseed for use in fish or other non-human animal feeds,wherein the cold pressing step of said oilseed fraction is carried outso as to substantially reduce the particle size of said oilseed fractionto yield a high value human grade oil and protein and lipid-rich mealswith reduced fibre content; said process comprising the further stepsof: providing a source of unhydrolyzed animal offal; blending saidprotein and lipid-rich meal with said animal offal, and if requiredwater together with an antioxident, to form a blended mixture thereof;cooking said blended mixture under conditions selected to substantiallyimprove protein digestibility, and substantially free cellular waterpresent in said animal offal, as well as to facilitate separation ofprotein from the lipid in said animal offal and said oilseeds to obtaina cooked mixture; and separating said cooked mixture into a stickwaterfraction, a moisture containing protein-rich fraction, and an animalfeed grade oil fraction.
 4. A process for preparation of proteinconcentrates and lipid sources from co-processing of animal offal withoilseeds for use in fish or other non-human animal diets comprising thesteps of: providing a source of oilseed; cold pressing said oilseedunder conditions to substantially reduce particle size of said oilseedand obtain pressed raw seeds; providing a source of unhydrolyzed animaloffal; blending said pressed raw seeds with said animal offal, and ifrequired water together with an antioxident, to produce a mixturethereof; cooking said mixture under conditions to substantially improveprotein digestibility, and substantially free cellular water present insaid animal offal and facilitate separation of protein from the lipid insaid animal offal and said oilseed to obtain a cooked mixture; andseparating said cooked mixture into a stickwater fraction, a moisturecontaining protein-rich fraction, and an animal feed grade oil fraction.5. A process as defined in claim 4, for preparation of proteinconcentrates and lipid sources from the co-processing of animal offalwith oilseeds for use in fish or other non-human animal diets comprisingthe steps of: providing a source of oilseed; drying said oilseed toproduce a dried seed; dehulling said dried seed to produce a meatfraction, a hull fraction or a mixture thereof; cold pressing saidoilseed meat fraction under conditions selected to substantially reduceparticle size of said meat or mixture to yield a high value human gradeoil and protein and lipid-rich meals with reduced fibre content;providing a source of unhydrolyzed animal offal; blending said proteinand lipid-rich meals with said animal offal to form a blended mixturethereof; cooking said blended mixture under conditions selected tosubstantially improve protein digestibility, substantially free cellularwater present in said animal offal and facilitate separation of proteinfrom the lipid in said animal offal and said oilseeds to obtain a cookedmixture; and separating said cooked mixture into a stickwater fraction,a moisture containing protein-rich fraction, and an animal feed gradeoil fraction.
 6. A process for producing a protein concentrate for usein animal and aquafeeds comprising the steps of: providing a source ofoilseed; drying said oilseed to reduce its moisture content to belowabout 10%